Web Design Freelance Partnership

The tip I could give you in that particular situation is.. open your own company and hire him as a freelancer. No salary, no 50% shares... just money for the jobs done.

Otherwise, after couple of months you realize that your business partner is just a normal employee and doesn't care about the business stuff except for the jobs to do, but you have to split shares like with the partner. Sorry to say, but if he is not as enthusiastic as you are in business, there is no sense to make a partnership.

Of course I do not know you guys but it's just my point of view, from my experience as a co-founder and a freelancer.

Anyway, I wish you both all the best

Regarding how you are dividing up work and responsibilities, just be clear with your partner about what each of you should be taking care of, and make sure you both have the same expectations, whether it's your business as a whole or for each individual project. You may find there are some client projects where you want to do more, or work on different parts of it because of your experience, so some of the work might vary. Ensure you have clear communication with your partner all the time and it won't really matter what each of you is working on (as long as you are both capable, of course).

Interesting. Moises, is it possible for you both to sit down, and write down your strengths and weaknesses, then set up a time frame in which you two could start focusing on what you both want to do more of and have more desire to do? Maybe he could help teach you some things and vice versa and then you both could be in the places within the company that you formed? It seems like it would have been easier to have sat down before you started the company and determine this instead of backtracking. If you were to buy his portion out, what if that left some bad energy between the two of you and he decided he would prefer to know do any work for you, then what? I might be a poly anna, but I think it might be wise to think about how to grow the company in a positive direction and reach the goals you both want, instead of go a few steps backwards - unless there is no going forward.

I would recommend that you also work out what would happen if in the future one of you wants to leave the business, or if it will grow to include more people. Right now it seems simple: (Revenue - Expenses) / 2 = Share of Income. But this can quickly fall apart if one person thinks they are doing more work than the other.

From your description it seems that you might be able to run the business without your partner, but he can't run it without you. However if you really want to be a business owner, and that is what you are passionate about, think bigger than a partnership. A partner should be just as dedicated to the business as you are, like Alex Lasek said, otherwise they should be an employee or contract worker.